The present disclosure generally relates to cooling of integrated circuits (ICs). In particular, this disclosure relates to using through-silicon vias (TSVs) in conjunction with groups of thermally coupled microvias to enhance the cooling of an IC.
A TSV is a vertical electrical connection structure that may pass partially or completely through a semiconductor chip. TSVs may be formed in a semiconductor chip, for example, by using an etching process to create a hole through the chip, depositing a spacer (insulating) material on the surface of the hole and surrounding semiconductor material, and subsequently filling the hole with an electrically conductive material, such as tungsten, copper or aluminum. The electrically conductive material may be used to connect circuits formed on one planar side of a first semiconductor chip to circuits formed on a second semiconductor chip that is stacked adjacent to the other planar side of the first chip.
A TSV may be useful in enabling stacking and electrical interconnection of multiple IC chips to create high-density circuit structures having relatively short electrical interconnects, high performance, and high density. One such circuit structure, known as a stacked memory device, can include multiple memory chips vertically interconnected to each other, and to a chip that includes logic functions. Stacked memory device logic functions may be used to manage memory operations such as reading, writing, maintenance, and interface with external components, such as a processor chip.